Oklo, Amazon and Google pursue small reactors as tech firms seek stable electricity for data centres
Tech giants are securing long-term nuclear energy deals to meet surging electricity needs from artificial intelligence.
BNN Bloomberg reports that Meta has signed a 20-year agreement with Constellation Energy to expand nuclear output at the Clinton Clean Energy Center in Illinois.
The deal, which begins in June 2027, will add 30 megawatts of clean energy, preserve 1,100 local jobs, and contribute US$13.5m in annual tax revenue, according to the companies.
As per Meta’s head of global energy, Urvi Parekh, “Securing clean, reliable energy is necessary to continue advancing our AI ambitions.”
The plant, currently powering the equivalent of 800,000 US homes, had previously faced closure but remained operational due to Illinois legislation supporting zero-emission credits.
Microsoft has locked in a similar 20-year agreement with Constellation to buy all electricity from a revived Three Mile Island nuclear reactor in Pennsylvania, according to The New York Post.
The project could add over 800 megawatts to the grid and inject US$16bn into the US economy while creating 3,400 jobs.
Although the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has not received a restart application, the companies expect the unit to be online by 2028.
The Times UK reports that Oklo, a nuclear start-up backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, has signed a non-binding agreement to supply up to 12 gigawatts of electricity through 2044 to Switch, a data centre operator serving companies such as Nvidia, Google, and PayPal.
Each Aurora reactor under Oklo’s plan is capped at 15 megawatts, as defined by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Oklo’s shares declined 1.8 percent following the announcement.
Other companies are pursuing similar nuclear strategies.
As reported by Business Insider, Amazon plans to build small reactors in Washington State and has invested US$500m in X-energy, while Google has signed deals with Kairos Power and Elementl Power.
Microsoft is also sourcing power through Constellation from Three Mile Island.
According to the Nuclear Energy Institute, 25 US states passed legislation in 2024 to support nuclear power, and more than 200 supportive bills have been introduced in 2025.
States are also moving to cut regulatory hurdles and expand subsidies to attract large tech investments.
Despite this activity, construction delays, capital costs, and regulatory bottlenecks remain challenges. Boston Consulting Group (BCG) told Business Insider that standardising reactor designs through modular construction is key.
Benjamin Vannier, managing director at BCG, said on the firm’s podcast that nuclear growth by 2040 will depend on “simplified, standardized, replicated nuclear power plants” to keep projects on time and within budget.
According to the World Nuclear Association, construction capital accounts for at least 60 percent of nuclear’s levelized cost of electricity.
Although long-term operating costs are low, scaling remains slow.
McKinsey noted in a 2024 report that power constraints are emerging now, while nuclear’s scaling timeline spans nearly a decade.
The US had 94 reactors as of 2023, generating 19 percent of electricity, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
Generative AI is already being used to streamline plant operations, with Infosys reporting that AI can predict failures and reduce downtime by analysing sensor and log data.
Public sentiment toward nuclear energy has shifted.
According to Bisconti Research, 75 percent of 3.5 million respondents in 2024 supported nuclear use for electricity, up from around 50 percent in the 1980s and 1990s.
Still, McKinsey projected in its 2024 Global Energy Perspective that growth in nuclear output would remain nearly flat through 2050.
Concerns persist around radioactive waste, safety, and proliferation, with the US still lacking a permanent waste storage solution after Yucca Mountain was shelved.
The outlook for fusion is also evolving. Type One Energy, backed by Bill Gates, reported in March 2024 that no scientific barriers remain for commercialising fusion.
As noted by BCG’s Vannier, combining hydrogen production with fusion could yield promising new sources of clean power.
